First Ball Python Bite. And it's a weird one. please help

Hey I'm a new owner (I've had him for about a month) and my ball python bit me for the first time today. However, he didn't strike at me. I was handling him like normal and he calmly just bit my pinky finger(i didn't even realize it at first) and quickly wrapped around my entire hand as if it were food.Literally as he was crawling around my hand he just bit me. Is there any reason this could be? Also if it helps to know, he did not let go immediately. I had to get up from watching videos and unwind him from around my hand while he struggled to rewrap and wouldn't let go. he eventually slid off.

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Originally Posted by Kaneb7

Hey I'm a new owner (I've had him for about a month) and my ball python bit me for the first time today. However, he didn't strike at me. I was handling him like normal and he calmly just bit my pinky finger(i didn't even realize it at first) and quickly wrapped around my entire hand as if it were food.Literally as he was crawling around my hand he just bit me. Is there any reason this could be? Also if it helps to know, he did not let go immediately. I had to get up from watching videos and unwind him from around my hand while he struggled to rewrap and wouldn't let go. he eventually slid off.

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Could be be several things. Were you handling food before you held him? When was he last fed? That bite wasn't a defensive bite; it was a "I'm hungry!" bite.

Sounds hungry! Tell him he's supposed to eat pinky rats, not pinky fingers... Perhaps you had handled meat earlier? Or he is just a very ambitious little thing. Either way, I would say put him back in his enclosure and feed him.

Speaking of feeding, can you give us a rough schedule and the sizes of the prey you've been giving him?

Did you handle rodents, or pet your dog or cat before you handled your snake?

I feed him two small mice on Friday nights. He is approximately 6 months old.

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Originally Posted by Kaneb7

I feed him two small mice on Friday nights. He is approximately 6 months old.

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Food sounds a bit small, I'm guessing you should be around rat pups by then.

+1 on the to small/not enough. Do you know how much he weighs? It would help in determining how much he should be getting. Also, 1 larger prey item would be better than feeding 2 small ones. I've got babies younger than that taking down large weaned rats every 5 days and looking for more.

https://scontent-lax3-1.xx.fbcdn.net...d8&oe=573C311B

Thank you so much for this. I was originally given not so good information regarding his food.

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Originally Posted by Kaneb7

Thank you so much for this. I was originally given not so good information regarding his food.

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We all start somewhere! It occurs to me I gave you the chart, but not how to use it. :P If you have a small scale that will weigh in grams, go ahead and weigh your snake and then give him a food item that is 10-15% of his weight. If you don't have one, they are around 20$ at Wal-Mart in the kitchen section. (Weight x .1 = Low End, Weight x .15 = High End) You can also go by how big around he is. After eating something, you should be able to see a small lump where his meal is. :)